Prime Minister's Office
English rendering of PM’s address at the Centenary year celebrations of Shri Sai Baba Samadhi
Governor of Maharashtra Mr. Vidyasagar Rao Ji, Chief Minister of Maharashtra Shri Devendra ji, Speaker of the Assembly Haribabu Ji, my Cabinet colleague Subhash Bhamre ji, Chairman of Shri Sai Baba Sansthan Trust Mr. Suresh Haware Ji, all the ministers of Maharashtra, all my Parliamentary colleagues, MLAs of Maharashtra and my dear brothers and sisters who are present here in large numbers. My best wishes to the entire Maharashtra, the people of India, for Vijayadashami and Dussehra.
Every year we try to celebrate festivities with our close and loved ones. Even I try to celebrate every festival with my countrymen. With these feelings, today I got the opportunity to be present amongst you. You all have come to shower your blessings on me in such large numbers on the auspicious occasion of Dussehra. I can see that there is no space under the tent. Half of the people are standing out in the sun. This bond and closeness constantly provides me with strength and your love and affection energizes and revitalizes me.
Friends,
Apart from Dussehra, today we are witnessing another auspicious occasion in this holy land of Shirdi. This day also marks the centenary of the completion of Saibaba's Samadhi. Just a few moments ago, I had got the opportunity to seek Saibaba's blessings. Whenever I get the opportunity to seek the blessings of Lord Saibaba, like countless devotees the same feeling of dedicating myself for the welfare of the people emanates from within me.
Brothers and sisters,
In every nook and corner of Shirdi lie the mantra and the teachings of Saibaba. Whenever we talk of service to the people, sacrifice and penance, everyone presents the example of Shirdi. Shirdi is the town of Tatya Patil ji. It is the town of Dada Kote Patil. This soil has produced great personalities like Madhavrao Deshpande and Mhalsapati. Kashiram Shimpi and Appa Jagle served Saibaba till his last breath. Who can ever forget Konda ji, Gava ji and Tukaram ji. I salute the great sons of this sacred soil.
Brothers and sisters,
According to Saibaba's mantra, everyone's god is one. These four words from the Sai had become the thread of society's unity. Sai belonged to the society and the society belonged to Sai. Sai had told some ways of social service and I am glad that Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust is relentlessly serving the society by walking the path shown by Saibaba. Your efforts in the direction of empowerment through education, transformation through spirituality or spreading the message of social harmony in the society are indeed commendable.
Even today, many projects related to faith, spirituality and development have started in this soil. And I congratulate the Government of Maharashtra as there cannot be any place better than this for carrying out the grand welfare scheme for the poor. What can be a greater source of gratification than sitting at the feet of Saibaba and working for the poor? Therefore, I congratulate the government of Maharashtra. I am delighted to be present here on the occasion of Bhumipujan of the new complex constructed for the devotees. The foundation stone of Saibaba English medium school Kanya Vidyalaya and college is being laid on this very day. I am confident that the upcoming Sai Knowledge Park related to the life and philosophy of Sai will help the people to understand the teachings of Sai in a better and lucid way.
Friends,
The work on a 10 MW solar unit has also begun today. This will increase the resources of the institute. The institute will have a major share in clean energy. In a way, it is a gift on behalf of the Sai Trust to thousands of devotees on the occasion of Vijayadashami.
Friends,
Usually Indians make purchases of several things like houses, cars and jewellery in the period between Navratri and Deepavali. People spend according to their capacity and gift their families. I am glad that on this auspicious occasion of Dussehra, I have got the opportunity of handing over houses to 2.5 lakh brothers and sisters of Maharashtra.
It has always been the dream of my brothers and sisters to have a house of their own. I believe that there cannot be a greater service on my part than serving those poor brothers and sisters of mine by arranging for the house warming ceremony for those families on the occasion of Dussehra. My best wishes to you all for the new houses built under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and for this auspicious occasion in your lives. These new houses symbolize your dreams. These also add a new dimension to your aspirations. Now your lives and the lives of your children have moved forward on the path of a positive change. It is a major first step towards victory over poverty.
Friends,
Owning a house makes life easier and develops an enthusiasm for fighting against poverty. A sense of respect is associated with it. Keeping this in mind, we have decided to work in the direction of providing a house to every homeless family by 2022 that marks 75 years of Indian independence.
I am glad that we are almost halfway through in such a short span of time. Brothers and sisters, whether the person belongs to a poor family or a middle class family, the government has made serious attempts in the last four years in pulling them out of slums and rented accommodations and providing them with their own houses. Efforts were also made before, but unfortunately their motive was to glorify and publicize the name of one family by providing houses to the poor instead of empowering them. Their motive was to create a vote bank. No thought was given to the fact that the house should be of good quality with amenities like electricity, toilet, water, and gas connection. No one would give any attention to those things if political interests were central to any scheme. Instead of political interests, if only the welfare of the poor is the focus of a scheme then it inspires to make his life easier. Then the work progresses at an accelerated rate. This is a living example in front of the nation.
Friends,
The previous government had built only 25 lakh houses in the last four years of their regime. They built only 25 lakh houses in 4 years. How many? What happened? Say aloud. How many houses in 4 years? They built 25 lakh houses in 4 years; whereas our BJP-led government has built 1 crore 25 lakh houses within four years after getting elected to the centre. They had constructed 25 lakh houses in 4 years while we have constructed 1 crore 25 lakh in 4 years. If the same government existed now, it would have taken 20 years for them for constructing these many houses. You too would have had to wait for 20 years for the houses. This is an example of how a government working at a fast pace delivers quickly to the poor. And just see, everything is the same; the same medium, the same resources and the same people; but if the work is done with an expression of service to the poor with an honest intention, then results are quick to follow.
Brothers and sisters,
Earlier, the previous government used to take 18 months or 1.5 years to build one house while this government takes less than 12 months to build a house. Besides shortening the time period, the size of the house has also increased. Moreover, the financial assistance provided by the government for the construction of houses has been increased from Rs.70 thousand to Rs.1 lakh 20 thousand. Most importantly, the funds get directly deposited to the beneficiary's bank account. And the selection of the beneficiaries has been done in a scientific and transparent manner. Moreover, care is being taken to ensure that the houses are durable with toilets and all the amenities.
Once again I congratulate the beneficiaries from the bottom of my heart for getting their houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. And today I got the opportunity to interact with some of the families from different districts. No one can guess the elation that I feel on looking at the self-confidence and happiness on the faces of those sisters. The life becomes blessed on seeing the happiness on the faces of the poor families. This gives a new energy to work. With the blessings that I received from the sisters, I would like to reiterate the resolution that we will devote our lives to your service every moment.
Brothers and sisters,
The campaign of connecting every house of the country to toilets is in the final phase. Maharashtra has done a commendable job in this direction. You all and the entire Maharashtra have declared Maharashtra to be Open Defection Free. My heartiest congratulations to the state's 11 crore people. This will not only keep the streets and villages of Maharashtra clean but will also protect the lives of the children belonging to the poor farmer families by preventing several diseases like diarrhoea.
Friends,
When it comes to the lives and the health of the poor, everyone around the world is talking about Ayushman Bharat i.e. Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana . Under this scheme, about 50 crore people will get free treatment for serious diseases.
The benefits of this scheme are also reaching lakhs of families in Maharashtra. Not even a month has passed since its launch, and till date about 1 lakh patients throughout the country have availed the benefits of this scheme. While someone has been treated for his stone, someone else has been treated for his tumour under this scheme. Someone's medical expenses of Rs.50 thousand have been met while yet another person's medical expenses of Rs.3 lakhs have been met.
Friends,
So far, the claim amount given is on an average Rs.20 thousand per person. Just imagine, earlier the poor had to shell out thousands of rupees from his pocket which was difficult for him. So he avoided going to the hospital. Now the government is standing behind the poor; so that they need not worry about money and get them treated first.
Friends,
Due to the Ayushman Bharat Yojana, a new framework of modern medical infrastructure has been developed. The possibility of setting up many new hospitals especially in tier 2 and tier 3 cities have opened up. This will open up employment opportunities for lakhs of youngsters across the country.
Brothers and sisters,
The government is working with the goal of ensuring an easy and a satisfactory life for every section of the society. As per my information, this time Varun devta has not been kind to the state; rainfall has been scanty in some parts of Maharashtra. Rest assured that under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana you will get relief very soon. Besides, the central government is walking hand in hand with the Maharashtra government for the initiatives taken by it.
Brothers and sisters,
The government is working towards completing the stalled projects under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana to pull the farmers of the country out of the water problem. Under this, work is underway for a number of major projects in Maharashtra. The Maharashtra government has also made an unprecedented effort to tackle water scarcity through its Jalyukt Shivar Abhiyan. It is a matter of gratification that this campaign has made 16000 villages of this state drought-free and the work of making 9000 additional villages drought-free is progressing at a rapid pace.
I would like to praise the people of Maharashtra also for successfully carrying out the de-siltation campaign of cleaning the irrigation tanks. It is not an easy job to clean 9 crore cubic metre of silt from the irrigation tanks. However, you have shown the way to the entire country by accomplishing this unprecedented task through public participation. I was told that if the same task was entrusted to a contractor, it would have cost more than Rs.600 crores; but you have done this job by pulling out all the stops.
Friends,
We are relentlessly working to ensure that the farmers get fair price for their crops even during bumper production. It is our government that fulfilled the age-old demand related to MSP. The government has set the profit at 50% more than the cost price for 21 Rabi and Kharif crops including sugarcane. This historic decision will ensure an income of more than thousands of crores of rupees to the farmers this year.
Friends,
Besides the agricultural sector, the government is also focusing upon the tourism sector. Maharashtra has pilgrimage centres like Shirdi on one hand as well as attractive destinations like Ajanta and Ellora that attract tourists from across the world. We have started a massive campaign to connect the employment opportunities of youngsters with devotion, spirituality and history.
The tourist circuits throughout the country are being linked. Amenities are being developed in those places. Last time when our honourable President had visited Shirdi to inaugurate the centenary functions, he had launched one Airport. I was told that in the future there will be a hike in the number of flights that are operating from here so that every devotee of Sai from within the country and abroad can easily come here.
Brothers and sisters,
The land of Maharashtra has always taught the lessons of social harmony to the country. Great personalities like Shivaji, Baba Saheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar ji or the Respected Mahatma Jyotiba Phule had established the values of equality and unity and believed that these values held the strength of the society. We need to always keep in mind the lessons taught by these great saintly men and to defeat every evil and power that tends to divide the society for its selfish interests. It is easy to divide but very difficult to unite. We need to strengthen the uniting power and defeat the power that is dividing us. We need to take the vow of 'Sabka Sath Sabka vikas' and 'Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat' on this Vijayadashami. Therefore, I would like to urge you all to move ahead with this message and walk the path of this message. We should walk the path shown by Saibaba. I am extremely elated.
Friends,
I am at a holy place today and attending the valedictory function of the centenary celebrations. On 31st October, your state government will complete four years. I congratulate Devendra Fadnavis ji and his entire team in advance. I hope that you will continue to serve the people of Maharashtra with all your strength like this. And I hope that you keep receiving the blessings of every person of the state.
With this belief once again I congratulate all the families that have received their dream houses today. I hope that the new houses become a medium of fulfilling your dreams; may you progress in life and your children touch new heights of success. With this expectation I end my speech. I express my gratitude to Shri Sai Trust for inviting me here on this auspicious occasion and giving me the opportunity to serve. May all the upcoming festivals bring happiness to your lives! With these good wishes, I thank you all.
Thank you!